In this episode of Roots of Resistance: Radical Kansas, we dive into the dramatic events of Bleeding Kansas, a violent period in the mid-1800s when pro-slavery forces and abolitionists clashed over the future of Kansas.

Resources & Further Learning

• Bleeding Kansas: Contested Liberty in the Civil War Era by Nicole Etcheson
  https://www.kansaspress.ku.edu
• The Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson
  https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-battle-cry-of-freedom-9780195088491

Black Perspectives on Bleeding Kansas & Abolition

• The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism by Edward E. Baptist
  https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/edward-e-baptist/the-half-has-never-been-told/9780465030293/
• Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II by Douglas A. Blackmon
  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/172146/slavery-by-another-name-by-douglas-a-blackmon
• The Black Abolitionists by Benjamin Quarles
  https://www.umass.edu/umpress/title/black-abolitionists

Primary Sources & Letters

• John Everett Letters, 1854-1864, Kansas Historical Society
  https://www.kshs.org/p/letters-of-john-everett/17077
• The Herald of Freedom Newspaper
  https://www.kshs.org/

Indigenous Perspectives on Bleeding Kansas

• The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer
  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/567361/the-heartbeat-of-wounded-knee-by-david-treuer
• An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
  https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/228195/an-indigenous-peoples-history-of-the-united-states-by-roxanne-dunbar-ortiz

Take Action

• Support organizations like the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty and the ACLU of Kansas, working to continue the abolitionist spirit in Kansas today.
  Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty: https://ksabolition.org
  ACLU of Kansas: https://www.aclukansas.org
• Engage locally: Find organizations working on racial justice, reparations, or abolition in your community, and see how you can support their work.